Thursday, March 11, 2010

it's keen to be green

"What have you been doing besides riding around on that filthy old thing?""Well we can't all come and go by bubble!"-Elphaba and Glinda, Wicked, Act II (the cat fight scene!)

"They're just shoes! Let it go!"-Glinda

I feel like a high school girl after prom. In a good way. You know, that "I could've danced all night feeling?" More like a "Dancing through life" feeling. Good times.

So, saw Wicked last night. Turns out, I'm one of 72,000 audience members to enjoy the show at the Richmond Landmark Theater this month (according to the Richmond Times Dispatch). Thank goodness!

If you guys have known me a long time, or for five minutes, you probably know that I'm a little obsessed with Broadway musicals. You probably also know that I'm a little bit obsessed with The Wizard of Oz. So, a Broadway musical with Ozian undertones? Hello! Right up my yellow brick alley!

I was so happy to find little homages to the Wizard of Oz story. It's nice when shows, along with spectacular acting and singing, also reward audience members. Jokes like saying the Wicked Witch of the West is always "flying off the handle." Things like that is what has allowed this show to be one of the top twenty longest running Broadway shows in history.

With that being said, the show in its entirety was absolutely magical. The sets, the lights, the singing and dancing. The flying. Everything. Everything was perfect. Everything was green. From the water fountain in the lobby of the theater to the sequined ties of the ushers.

My mom even shelled out a little green (well, it actually was a lot of green) of her own to purchase the purple "I heart OZ" t-shirt I'm currently wearing.

Speaking of ushers, it's a known fact that I can't go anywhere without getting fussed at for something by a person in "authority." I don't know what it is. I'm a good kid. I don't know what it is about me that sticks out like a sore thumb, but I'm always the one to get checked at the airport. I've been escorted off of private campuses, etc. I've even been admonished by a guide at the Met for swinging my camera too close to a painting (I was standing several feet away from the wall, thank you!). I took a picture of the set on my phone last night. Not five seconds later Green Sequined Tie Lady came to fuss at me.

Green Sequined Tie Lady: Miss, you know you can't take pictures during the show.Me: (With bright smile and warm disposition) Of course, ma'am.Green Sequined Tie Lady: You also need to turn your phone off for the duration.Me: Yes, of course.

I don't get it. Do I look like I'm totally lacking in theater etiquette? I don't talk loudly to my neighbor, I'm sitting in my seat as soon as the lights go dim and the curtain comes up. I don't wear my hair too high so the people behind me can see. Further, I am not boozing it up during the show.

That's right, people were drinking beer. At Wicked. What? The thrill of the theater isn't enough? Do you really need to alter your mindset to enjoy a musical? Forgive me, Green Sequined Tie Lady, but I know how to act in a theater. Go talk to the man behind me sipping on his Natty Light. Okay, so it probably wasn't Natty Light, but I mean come on. It's a musical, not a booze cruise, people.

Moving on. This is where it gets even goodlier.

After the show, I chatted it up with a cast-member for a little while. I didn't know what part she played, but she was standing by the stage door so I figured, couldn't hurt to get her autograph. I just talked to her casually, no big deal. Walked away, and looked up the name she had written on the cover of my playbill.

Oh, it was Natalie Daradich, the actress who played Glinda.

WHAT?!

Newsflash: Glinda is a brunette. Just a little encouragement to all of those aspiring, hair-dying actresses out there. No wonder I didn't recognize her. She was so little, and you know, not blonde. It's a pretty good thing I didn't know who she was at the time though, come to think of it. I would have melted right there in the middle of the sidewalk. She said she was enjoying Richmond, especially after being in Dayton. No comment.